Born in Mississippi, Ruger Donoho settled in France for eight years. He lived in Paris during the season and spent summers painting landscapes in villages nearby. Moonlight, Mills at Pont-Aven is one of several somber, moonlit scenes Donoho painted late in his career. Drawing from James Whistler’s nocturne paintings and prints, Donoho used muted colors and soft brushstrokes to depict the ambient landscape from his 1901 visit to the picturesque Pont-Aven village in western France.